A wholesome celebrity- academy graduate, Bridgit Mendler, 16, is the star of the next new Disney Channel sitcom.
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Marsh says it's not deliberate, but the company also seems to minimize its exposure by casting the most gosh-darn wholesome teens it can find. The Jonases, Cyrus, Gomez and Lovato wear purity rings and talk about their Christian faith. "I don't know if they find them wearing the rings or if that becomes part of the image," says Frederick Levy, a manager of child actors and the author of the new book Acting in Young Hollywood. He notes that generally, children who are less jaded make better TV stars.
Not every young actor wants to be a cog in the Disney machine. It pays considerably less than the networks do and typically expects to monopolize an actor's time and talent for at least four TV seasons--14 to 18 years old seems to be the sweet spot. Still, the line of hopefuls shows no sign of dwindling. "Disney's an amazing cross-promoter. You will become a teen star," says Levy. "Then you'll have to work twice as hard to prove you are more."
In fact, Disney's successful moves, along with similar ones by Nickelodeon, which is in the teen-star business too, have created something of a boomlet in the child-talent business. Big agencies such as CAA and William Morris Endeavor now have dedicated youth departments. "What used to happen is that we would find the talent, and there would be a feeding frenzy," says Marsh. "Now that we've shown these are potentially viable clients for them in the long term, talent agencies have become more aggressive in finding their talent before we do." And locating them, he says, is by far the hardest part. When Disney was looking for a young Latina star, Marsh says, he looked at thousands of kids and found one he wanted to pursue: Gomez.
Executives at Disney must know that its streak of luck with fresh faces can't last. For a start, there are not many genuine teen stars out there. Second, even tween girls--Disney Channel's main consumers--can generate ardor for only so many other humans. The company has recently made moves to find story lines and characters elsewhere, paying $4 billion to buy Marvel Entertainment merely to get access to some of its lesser superheroes. (The big ones, like Spider-Man, are already spoken for.) Comic-book characters can't give concerts or go to a meet-and-greet or record songs for Disney end credits. But at least Thor and Captain America won't be caught in compromising situations by a camera phone.
A Less Magic Kingdom
Shows like Wizards of Waverly Place (below) are helping cable operations (which include ESPN) hold steady while other Disney businesses sag
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*Year to year, for nine months ending June 27